Penn coach Glen Miller said that the No. 1 culprit in Penn's 69-47 loss to Villanova Tuesday night was poor shooting by the Quakers. A close second was the offensive rebounds that made the Wildcats look as if they were sporting metal jerseys that attracted the seemingly magnetized basketballs coming off of the rim.
Villanova had 19 in all - more than Penn's 18 defensive rebounds. Miller suggested that his team had indeed taken a confidence hit or two with the past few losses, and that giving up offensive rebounds was among the more confidence-sapping of the ailments that struck Penn.
Not that the Quakers shouldn't be cut some slack. Even when they boxed out perfectly, a Dante Cunningham (11 rebounds) or a Reggie Redding (six) or a Shane Clark (four) would out-leap them from behind.
Most of Penn's rebounding specialists were out of commission for one reason or another. Andreas Schreiber played for the first time this year due to a shoulder injury, but was obviously fatigued after such a long layoff. Justin Reilly was once again in street clothes. Cameron Lewis, though healthy, didn't play. Freshman Larry Loughery seemed to match up well physically with the Wildcats, but his lack of seasoning on offense probably kept Miller from leaving him in for longer than 17 minutes. Same for Conor Turley, who played just four.
In short, Penn's lineup was smaller and younger than its opponent's. But as both sides conceded, physical advantages only account for some of the disparity.
"One thing we try to emphasize in practice is . box-out drills, rebounding drills," Penn guard Kevin Egee said. "And there wasn't much carry-over . When they're bigger and stronger, you have to make the first hit, and I don't think we did that [Tuesday]. That's why they got a lot of long rebounds."
Those long boards mostly came off of missed three-pointers, meaning that Villanova's 7-for-18 mark from deep did far more than 21 points' worth of damage. The rebounds off of those misses turned into extra possessions and sometimes easy layups for opportunistic guards crashing the glass.
The quickness of Villanova guards like Scottie Reynolds and Corey Stokes allowed them to create space off of screens and spread the floor. Penn had trouble covering all of the available jump shooters, creating even more chances for them to break free and grab loose balls.
Miller said that the newly-lengthened three-point arc would continue to force players on both sides away from the basket and make it harder for a defender to keep his mark in front of him. That makes boxing out the single biggest thing Penn can do to improve its rebounding, he said.
Getting taller and older isn't an option.
